The present invention relates to appliances in general, and more particularly to improvements in household slicing machines or analogous appliances which are equipped with means for adjusting the thickness of slices that can be severed from loaves of bread, from rods of salami, from onions and/or from other types of foodstuffs.
Household appliances of the above outlined character normally comprise a motor driven disc-shaped knife which is or which can be located in a vertical plane, and a plate-like stop whose position with reference to the knife can be changed and one side of which serves as an abutment for the foodstuff which is to be sliced. By changing the distance between such one side of the stop and the plane of the knife, the operator can select the thickness of the slices with a degree of accuracy which is determined by the adjusting means. The latter normally comprises a stationary nut secured to the housing of the appliance and a rotatable feed screw or the like which is secured to the stop and can be turned by hand in order to make a selection of the thickness of the slices to be severed from a particular foodstuff.
A drawback of presently known appliances of the above outlined character is that the adjusting means for the stop does not allow for a highly accurate selection of the thickness of slices. Thus, the lead of the aforementioned feed screw is constant from end to end so that each angular displacement of the feed screw through a given angle corresponds to one and the same displacement of the stop with reference to the plane of the knife. On the other hand, it is often desirable to select the thickness of slices (e.g., slices of salami) with a high or very high degree of accuracy. The same applies for the slicing of certain types of smoked meat as well as for the slicing of numerous other foodstuffs which should be served or further processed in the form of slices having an accurately determined thickness, especially a minimal thickness. In other words, the versatility of the just discussed conventional appliances is not sufficient to satisfy the needs of housewives, professional or amateur chefs and other persons who are involved with the serving and processing of foods including sliced foods.